EAM Jaishankar meets Iran President Ebrahim Raisi; hails his commitment to better ties

India's External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Thursday met newly elected Iran President Ebrahim Raisi after the latter assumed office. As per sources, EAM Jaishankar delivered a personal message from Prime Minister Narendra Modi to President-elect Raisi during the meeting.

The incoming hardline cleric has assumed the Presidential office after being officially endorsed by the Islamic Republic’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as Iran’s eighth president.

EAM Jaishankar envisions strengthening bilateral relationship with Iran

President Raisi considered a close associate to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, won by a landslide in the presidential election conducted in June and was elected for the Presidential post after winning 61.95% of the votes in the presidential polls which were marred with allegations of not being “free and fair”.

Indian EAM's second visit to Tehran

On the other hand, the meeting between President Raisi and EAM Jaishankar was the second in a month. Both the leaders discussed pivotal bilateral and regional issues. Last month, EAM Jaishankar had made a stopover in Tehran on his way to Russia. EAM Jaishankar became the first foreign dignitary to meet President Ebrahim Raisi even before he assumed office. 

Notably, in 2017, India was represented by then shipping minister Nitin Gadkari for the swearing-in ceremony of Raisi’s predecessor, Hassan Rouhani.

Earlier, in June, Prime Minister Modi vowed to work with Iran's Raisi to strengthen diplomatic ties between the two countries following the latter's landslide victory. 

Meanwhile, the White House had categorically stated that US President Joe Biden had no plans to meet with the newly elected Iranian leader as US had no diplomatic relations with Iran and that not much had changed between the two countries.